China Slams India’s ‘Betrayal’ in Fresh Border Skirmish

“By entering into the Chinese territory and obstructing Chinese troops’ normal activities, India has violated the existing convention on the boundary and basic principle of global law and obstructed peace and stability of the boundary area”.

He said the China-India boundary at Sikkim section had been defined by the 1890 Convention and the successive Indian governments had upheld it many times in written forms and also recognized that the two sides had no disagreement on the alignment of Sikkim section. There are still major differences between India and China, especially regarding Beijing’s take on the India-China-Bhutan trijunction.

Objections were first raised by the Bhutanese government, which issued a demarche, or formal statement, accusing China of constructing a road “inside Bhutanese territory” in “direct violation” of its territorial treaty obligations, earlier last week. “For America, the weapons deal will not only reap enormous monetary gains from India, but also strengthen India’s advantage in the Indo-Pacific region to check China”, Liu wrote, the newspaper said.

On June 26, Indian troops intervened to stop Chinese workers from building a road on the Doklam plateau. This gives China an opportunity to offer conditional concessions to Bhutan. “Their misleading, unfound China-phobia, however, might lead to strategic myopia and hurt India’s own interests”, Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

The facts of the matter are a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) construction party entered the Doklam (Doka La) area and attempted to construct a road. It has been a standard part of Beijing’s multi-pronged approach in dealing with India. The Sikkim route to Mansarovar was opened in 2015, enabling pilgrims to travel the 1,500-km long route from Nathu La to Kailash by buses.

“Our position to uphold our territorial sovereignty is unwavering”.

In addition, the Indian government has started an anti-dumping probe into Chinese products, the article said, adding the Modi administration sought United States support at the cost of China-India ties and has taken a lead in containing China’s rise.

Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat is himself slated to visit Sikkim on Thursday for a first-hand review of the ground situation.

“The India-China boundary in the Sikkim section is well demarcated”.

Two days later, senior PLA spokesman Colonel Wu Quian denounced Rawat’s statement about India’s readiness to fight a two-front war as “extremely irresponsible”.

Lu added that it was “utterly unjustifiable” for the Indian side to interfere in issues between the two countries.

Mr Hu claimed that India is provoking China because it wanted to prove to the United States that it could contain China while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the US. This could be one of the prime issues of discussion between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, when they are scheduled to meet in Germany during a G20 Summit later this week.

Additional forces from nearby brigade headquarters, located 20 km from the face off point, were moved in on June 8 during which a scuffle led to soldiers on both sides suffering minor injuries.

The Chinese experts also took exception to reports that India’s Defence Ministry is surveying the China-India border in order to build an “all-weather railway corridor” with broad-gauge network for swift movement of troops and weaponry.